ARC Raiders’ Solo Mode Changes Everything

by

Okay, so I’ve been playing ARC Raiders, and honestly, it’s really good. It’s an extraction shooter, which usually means super tough, but this one is surprisingly welcoming. It’s weird – it shouldn’t be so easy to pick up, but it isn’t easy exactly, just… accessible. I’m having a blast!

Starting a new expedition can be tough because you need weapons, shields, and supplies. Free Loadouts make this easier by providing a random set of items, so you don’t have to risk losing your best gear. You won’t know what you’re getting – it could be something simple like a barricade or something useful like a zipline, and of course, weapons too! The great thing is, if you manage to complete the expedition and extract, everything you received is yours to keep, completely free.

Getting resources is very easy, whether you’re finding and reusing items or getting help from Scrappy. To succeed and advance, you’ll need to take chances. While you can fight the ARC with the basic weapons you start with, upgrading your guns makes it much easier.

Everyone eventually dies, but you’ll still gain experience for your accomplishments, letting you learn new abilities. These skills can give you a significant advantage, or simply help you survive longer – maybe by letting you craft items quickly or boosting your endurance.

What’s most surprising about ARC Raiders isn’t its smooth gameplay, beautiful and realistic environments, or even how well it runs. It’s actually the experience of playing the game alone – it’s surprisingly engaging and well-designed for solo players.

Playing an extraction shooter by yourself is usually a tough experience. If you get knocked down, there’s almost no one to help you up, meaning you’ll lose all the gear you worked hard to collect – unless you have a special item to save something. Plus, without a teammate watching your back, you’re much more vulnerable to everything the game throws at you. Some enemies are especially difficult to defeat alone, either because you’ll run out of ammo or need someone to draw their fire. All of this adds up to a frustrating solo experience.

That’s not quite right, though. While bad things definitely can happen – it is the Rust Belt, after all, and you need to watch out for everything – it’s also surprisingly liberating. And it’s not just about not worrying about what your teammates are doing.

When you play alone, being stealthy is a really effective strategy, particularly around the ARC. With fewer teammates, there’s less chance of someone being seen and alerting enemies to your whole team. Plus, the risks of player-versus-player combat are lower when you’re solo. While some players will attack without hesitation, and others might betray you, you’ll be surprised how many just want to avoid a fight after signaling they don’t want to engage.

Sometimes players team up for particularly challenging situations, like facing dangerous enemies. One player described battling a tough enemy called a Leaper and being helped by three others who then continued on their own. With larger, more difficult enemies – especially The Queen – working together feels essential at times.

Every interaction with other players still feels dangerous. Even accidentally crossing paths with someone while trying to escape, especially when you’re being chased, could easily turn hostile. Despite the risk, it’s incredibly thrilling. You never know if they’ll offer assistance, like a revive, or let you leave peacefully. Or, they might just take the chance to shoot you, simply because they have the opportunity.

It’s ironic because the situation works both ways – I could be the one caught unaware. Coming across someone searching through the wreckage of an ARC while hearing gunshots is a strange experience. They’re completely oblivious to my presence, with their back turned, and I could easily shoot them without anyone ever finding out. Thankfully, the intrusive thoughts didn’t progress to actually rationalizing it, but the mere fact that I could make that choice was both unsettling and strangely powerful. After a quick “Don’t shoot!” and a brief exchange, the tension eased – at least for the moment.

Embark Studios initially planned to match solo players against each other, not against teams. While this seemed like a good idea for fairness, it appears to be creating a divide between players who enjoy player-versus-player combat (PvP) and those who don’t. Early reports from players show that duos and squads are actually more inclined to fight each other than to team up.

Will future updates add reasons that require players to team up, even briefly? It’s possible, but right now, playing with others feels like just one of the ways to enjoy ARC Raiders, not the only way. There’s a lot of potential for teamwork later on, especially if players can cover different roles – like one focusing on healing or long-range attacks while another handles close combat.

That’s another reason I love playing alone. Even if others were aggressively competing, the isolation and need for extra caution really change how I approach the game. Without teammates marking enemies, I’m always scanning the environment, listening carefully, and moving cautiously. I also have to carefully manage my inventory, deciding what to keep and what to discard. Events like Night Raids make this even more interesting, offering better rewards but also a higher risk of encountering dangerous enemies.

In situations like those, you start to anticipate what will happen. I specifically recall seeing two players struggling against a Bastion and instinctively rushing to help, though I wasn’t very effective. I can still vividly remember the terrifying sound of its minigun powering up.

Most multiplayer games rely on teamwork, meaning your success depends on other players. If your teammates don’t pull their weight – healing, defending, or attacking – you’re often stuck losing. What’s interesting about ARC Raiders is that it plays with this idea in a surprising way. While the saying ‘hell is other people’ is often true in games, ARC Raiders also suggests that sometimes it’s easier to cooperate, but equally easy to simply eliminate other players without consequences.

It wouldn’t be shocking if this aspect became important in future updates. Perhaps the true experience of ARC Raiders isn’t about the game itself, but the unpredictable relationships we forge with other players – not knowing if they’ll be allies or enemies. The excitement of venturing out, depending on myself, and meeting people while constantly questioning their motives is both thrilling and strangely reassuring.

Please keep in mind that the opinions shared in this article are the author’s own and don’t reflect the official stance of GamingBolt.

Read More

2025-11-05 20:43